True Colors
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: The Monkees encounter a witch who wants to drain the world of its color
1. Chapter 1

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: I feel I have to say this with every Monkees fanfic I write. Please read my fanfic "Monkee Magic" before reading anything else I write, because it explains a lot, such as where Franky McAlister comes from, and how Mike got magic powers. Kthnxbye._

* * *

It was Friday afternoon, which meant school was out for the weekend, and that meant the Monkees had to deal with Peter's thirteen-year-old nephew, Franky, being home during the day for the next two days. And that wasn't going to be easy, considering Franky was a very active kid, and got bored fairly easy. Micky took him to the park to play catch, and by the time they got back, he was exhausted.

"Hi guys!" Franky shouted.

"Hey, how was your game?" Peter asked.

"Great," Franky said. "I wanted to play some more, but Micky got tired."

Micky groaned, and flopped down on the couch. He felt like his limbs were made out of lead.

"You okay, Mick?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Micky said. "What does that kid run on, anyway? High octane?"

"Don't you usually 'ave enough energy to 'andle Franky?" Davy asked.

"Yeah, I know," Micky said. "I usually do, but even I can't go non-stop like Franky! I'm wiped!"

"Okay, Micky, we'll give you a hand tomorrow," Mike said. "We don't have anythin' to do, so why don't we all go to the park, and see if we can get Franky to tire out."

The next day, the Monkees took Franky to the park, and began playing baseball over on the baseball field. Of course it wasn't easy playing baseball with only five people, but they managed. They all just took turns at bat and playing the field. At one point, Mike was pitching, and he was about to throw the ball to Davy, who was at bat, when he suddenly stopped, and began rubbing his right temple.

"Oooh!" he shouted.

"What's the mattah, Mike?" Davy asked.

"I don't know, man," Mike said. "I just got this sudden pain here."

"Maybe we've been playing too long," Micky said. "I heard overactivity can cause headaches."

"You sure it isn't a migraine?" Davy asked.

"No . . . ." Mike said, massaging his temple. "No, I think I'm okay. It's startin' to clear up."

"Okay, then," Micky said. "PLAY BALL!"

Mike pitched the baseball, but the minute he did, he felt that same pain in his temple again. He hissed, and began massaging it again.

"Mike, ah you _sure_ you're okay?" Davy asked. "Do you want an Aspirin or something?"

"Maybe we should call it quits, man," Peter said.

"No, it isn't that," Mike said. "I don't know why, but . . . . well, I got the funny feelin' this pain in my temple is tellin' me somethin's not right. Like there's trouble somewhere close by."

"You've got a headache and you think it's telling you there's trouble?" Micky asked.

"Looks like Mike the Magic Monkee found a new ability," Davy said.

"That must be it," Mike said. "This has gotta be linked with my warlock powers."

Before anyone could say anything, something whizzed by overhead.

"What was _that_?!" Micky shouted.

"Maybe it was a UFO," Peter said.

"That, or the Four Martians advertising a gig," Davy said.

"You really think it's a UFO, Mike?" Franky asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feelin' that's what's causin' this sudden headache," Mike said, massaging his temple.

"'Ow can you be sure?" Davy asked.

"Call it a hunch," Mike said. "Come on, let's go check this out."


	2. Chapter 2

The boys ran in the direction where they saw the UFO, and found some kind of flying saucer, being piloted by a woman, wearing black and gray. She pushed a button on the saucer, and a laser zapped a light out. It hit a patch of grass, and it turned from green to gray.

"What the?" Mike asked.

"She just zapped away the color!" Micky shouted.

The lady began punching buttons around, zapping away the color from everything, laughing evilly.

"Hold it right there, lady!" Mike shouted.

"What?" the woman asked, irritatedly.

"What the heck are you tryin' to do here?!" Mike asked.

The woman just stared at Mike as if he was crazy. Then she began to laugh.

"I'm going to take away all the world's color, and there's nothing you can do about it!" she said.

The lady aimed her laser at Mike and fired it. He jumped out of the way just in time.

"She can't take away the world's color!" Peter shouted.

"Don't worry, Pete, I'll handle this," Mike said. He cracked his knuckles, and pointed his index finger at the craft. A magic beam shot out of it. The lady moved her flying saucer away from the blast.

"Not bad," she said, stifling a yawn. "What else have ya got?"

Mike glared at her, and began shooting his magic out in every direction imaginable. The lady kept moving her space ship all over the place, avoiding each blast of magic.

"This is gettin' frustratin'," Mike said. "All right, lady! Who are you, and what's your angle?"

The witch landed her craft, and climbed out. She smiled sneakily, and waved her hand in circle. A blast of magic hit a nearby tree, and zapped it's color away.

"I'm Achroma," she said. "And my goal is to turn the world into black and white. These colors are driving me batty!"

"You can't strip the world of it's color!" Peter shouted.

"Why not?" Achroma asked.

"Because . . . . it's not a nice thing to do!"

" _Nice_? What do I care about nice? I hate color, so how do I solve my problem, kiddo? Now if you'll excuse me . . . ."

Achroma returned to her ship, and took off. Mike began running after her.

"Come on, fellas!" he shouted. "We've got to stop her!"

Davy, Micky, Peter, and Franky immediately followed the Texan Monkee, and they managed to catch up with Achroma and her saucer. She was blasting patches of flowers with her laser. Mike snapped his fingers and brought the saucer down, causing it to crash.

"Resourceful, magic man," Achroma said. "But I've got another trick up my sleeve."

Achroma stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled. A fleet of black birds appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to surround the Monkees.

"Why do they always want to do it the hard way?" Mike asked, rolling his eyes. He clapped his hands, and magic soared from the sky. The birds squawked, and scattered, in order to avoid getting clobbered by Mike's magic.

"You're resourceful, magic man," Achroma said. "But you haven't dealt with Buster yet."

"Buster?" Micky and Davy said in unison.

Buster appeared. He was the biggest blackbird known to man, even bigger than all four Monkees put together. He let out a squawk and took to the air. He seemed to have disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Peter asked.

"Beats me," Mike said. "But I get this icky feelin' in the pit of my . . . . . oof!"

In mid-sentence, Buster came back down and clobbered Mike, hitting him in the side of the head with his feet. He fell to the ground, and was completely dazed. Just as he was about to get up, Buster swooped down, and hit him again. Then he flew into the air again, out of Mike's range, and then disappeared. Achroma laughed.

"Don't you know there's no stopping a giant blackbird when he gets going?" she asked.

Mike was about to blast Achroma with his magic, when Buster came swooping back down. He grabbed Mike by the shoulders with his feet, and hoisted him into the air.

"Hey!" Mike shouted.

"Miiiiiike!" Micky shouted.

"'Ey, let 'im go, you big buzzard!" Davy shouted.

"If you insist," Achroma said. She stuck two fingers in her mouth, and whistled. Buster squawked, and let go of Mike, and he started plummeting.

"You and your big mouth!" Micky shouted, giving Davy a swat upside the head.

Before Mike had a chance to use his magic to stop him from falling, Achroma managed to catch him in her saucer.

"Miss me, big boy?" she asked. Mike was about to respond, when Achroma snapped her fingers, and Mike suddenly found himself restrained tightly with what appeared to be leather straps, and he was unable to move.

"Hey, what in the world's goin' on here?!" he shouted.

"You're coming with me, handsome," Achroma said. "You're loaded with magic. I'll be invincible once I suck you dry!"

"Suck me dry, whattaya suck me dry? You can't do that!"

"I can, and I will."

"Wait a minute, lady, there's no way in the world you're gonna . . . ."

Achroma snapped her fingers and covered Mike's mouth with another strap.

"Now, let us be off," she said, as she started up her saucer. "I've got a world to drain of it's color."

"Hey, you can't do that to him!" Peter shouted.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-taaaaaaahhhhh!" Micky shouted, pantomiming blowing a bugle.

"CHAAAARRRRRRGE!" Davy, Micky, Peter, and Franky shouted, and they ran toward the saucer. Achroma merely yawned, and snapped her fingers. A brick wall appeared from out of nowhere, right in the boys' tracks. They slammed right into it.

CRASH!

"Anybody get the license number of that truck?" Micky asked dazedly.

"Now that _that's_ out of the way," Achroma said, "we can leave."

Achroma took off, cackling madly. By the time Franky and the other three Monkees got their wits back, they were long gone.

"We'll never catch her now!" Franky shouted. "What are we gonna do?"

"Let's go to the police!" Peter shouted.

"We can't do that, they'll nevah believe us!" Davy shouted. "Mattah of fact, I'm not even sure _I_ believe what just 'appened!"

"Well, we can't just stand here and do nothing!" Franky argued.

"He's right," Peter said. "Mike's our leader, after all! He's helped us when we were in trouble!"

"Right, Pete," Micky said. "And we _will_ do something! We'll follow her."

"Do you even know 'ow long that could take, Micky?" Davy asked.

"It does not matter how long it takes!" Micky shouted, in an overly dramatic voice. "We shall follow the evil Achroma until we find her and rescue our fearless leader!"

"Hey, Micky . . . ." Franky started.

"Even if it takes hours!" Micky went on, not even acknowledging the thirteen-year-old. "Days! Weeks! Months! Years even! We will not rest until we find them!"

"Micky . . . ."

"Even if we have to travel far and wide, facing many obstacles, we will not give up!"

"Micky . . . ."

"Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds!"

"MICKYYYYYY!" Franky screamed at the top of his lungs.

" _What_ , Franky?" Micky asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Why don't we just call Mike's aunt in Texas and get the dirt on this chick from her?" Franky asked.

"Great idea, Franky," Peter said.

"Yeah, I know where Mike keeps that numbah," Davy said. "Let's get back to the Pad!"

And with that, Davy, Peter, and Franky raced to the Monkee Mobile.

"Oh, sure," Micky said, sounding a little put out. "If you wanna do it the _easy_ way!"


	3. Chapter 3

Meanwhile, Achroma had returned to her castle with Mike. It was located on a very steep hill in what appeared to be a desolate wasteland. Everything about it was gray. Once Achroma landed her saucer, she practically dragged Mike into the castle, and through a door, which looked a lot like a mad scientist's laboratory. She pushed Mike against a table, and snapped her fingers, which strapped the Texan Monkee to it. Then, she pushed a button on a large console, and the table began to shift into a reclining position. Then she placed a headband of some kind on Mike's head, and began to attach wires to it, which were also hooked up to the console. She also placed some kind of tube on the end of Mike's right index finger.

"It's gonna be a hot time in the old town tonight!" she shouted, and she pulled a switch.

Electricity began to build up, and they started charging through Mike. The Texan Monkee screamed (though it was muffled because of the strap over his mouth). A glowing green substance began to flow from his finger through the tube, and into a glass container on the machine.

"That's your magic," Achroma explained. "And pretty soon, it will be _my_ magic! The process will take some time to complete, but I'm not worried. No one will save you!"

Achroma cackled madly. Mike rolled his eyes, groaned, and tried desperately to get loose. It was about all he could do.

Back at the Monkees Pad, Davy was on the phone with Mike's aunt Kate, getting the information he and the others needed about Achroma.

"So 'ow do we get to this castle of 'ers?" he asked. "There's a book that 'as a map in it? What's it called? Oh good, I think Mike _does_ 'ave that one! Okay. Great, thanks. Bye."

"Well?" Micky asked, as Davy hung up.

"She doesn't know where to find this castle of Achroma's off 'and," Davy said. "But she said we could find a map that will lead us to it in a book called _Evil Witches and Warlocks Who's Who._ "

"Here it is!" Peter shouted, picking up a book from the shelf. "Mike was reading this recently."

"Let's go to the index," Davy said, taking the book. He turned to the index, and began looking for the information he wanted. Once he found Achroma's name listed, he turned to the page he wanted, and found the map.

"'Ere it is!" he shouted, tearing it out of the book. "And we're in luck! There's a set of abandoned train tracks that will lead us right to 'er castle! All we 'ave to do is follow them!"

"Well then, let's go!" Micky shouted.

The quartet raced out to the Monkee Mobile, piled in, and took of. They found the train tracks, but there was no way they'd be able to drive the Monkee Mobile any further to follow them.

"Guess we'll have to go on foot," Micky said.

"But that'll take forever," Franky said.

"Yeah, and walking the rails isn't really my bag," Davy said.

"Wait a minute!" Peter shouted. "Look over there!"

The group looked toward Peter was pointing, and saw an old handcar sitting on the tracks. It looked like it hadn't been used in at least twenty years.

"Hey, groovy!" Micky shouted.

"Does it work?" Davy asked.

"It's going to have to," Micky said, climbing on. "Come on, you guys. What are you waiting for?"

"Let's go!" Davy said.

The foursome climbed on the cart, and Micky and Peter took their stations at the handles, and began pumping. There was an awful screech as they did, due to the years of neglect, and they started out slowly, but they soon started picking up speed after a few pumps.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Micky shouted.

"Full speed ahead!" Franky shouted.

There wasn't much to go on in looking for the castle. All the boys knew it was on top of a steep hill, and it was along the train tracks, but they weren't sure where. Finally, Davy spotted something.

"Stop the cah!" he shouted. "We've found the 'ill!"

"Where is it?" Peter asked, looking around.

"Look up," Davy said.

"Way up," Franky replied.

Peter and Micky looked up. Sure enough, there was the castle, on the highest cliff they had ever seen in their entire lives.

"That's it all right," Micky said. "Well, according to the description Mike's aunt gave us. Everybody out!"

The boys climbed off of the handcar and looked up at the castle, wondering how in the world were they going to get up there.

"Anybody got any ideas?" Peter asked.

"We only have one choice," Micky said. "We have to climb this thing."

"How?" Franky asked. "It's way too steep!"

"We'll nevah be able to get up there without falling, Micky," Davy said.

"But it's the only way to get up there," Micky said. "If only we had some rope."

"Where ah we going to get rope?" Davy asked.

The boys began looking around, trying to figure out where they could find some rope, or a vine. Peter spotted an abandoned shack in the distance. He walked up to it, opened the door, and peered inside. In the corner of the room, she saw pile of rope.

"Hey, fellas!" he called. "I found some rope!"

"Great!" Micky shouted. "Now we can get to work climbing it! Everybody tie the rope around your waist. That way, we can all stick together."

The boys tied the rope to their waists, and Micky started up the cliff, with Peter behind him, followed by Davy, then Franky.

"Whatever you do, don't look down!" Micky warned. "It's a long way down!"

"That's one trip I'd like to skip," Davy said, keeping his eyes glued to the top of the cliff.

"Rock climbing isn't so hard," Peter said. "It's kind of fun."

"Speak for yourself, Uncle Peter," Franky said. "One false step, and it's pancake city!"

"Try not to think about it, Franky," Micky said. "The world's at risk! They'll be no more color if we give up."

"Yeah," Peter replied. "Life will look like a rerun of _Leave It to Beaver_ or _I Love Lucy_ or _Mr. Ed_ or _Donna Reed_ or _The Patty Duke Show_ or _The Addams Family,_ or _The Dick Van Dyke Show,_ or . . . ."

"We get the point, Petah!" Davy shouted.

As the boys were climbing, they were being watched. One of Achroma's birds was sitting on a tree branch, and then he flew into the air, and through one of the windows. Achroma was playing around with switches and things. Mike was ready to drop. Achroma merely laughed.

"Getting tired already?" she asked. "Heh, heh. The fun has just begun!"

Suddenly, her blackbird squawked, and flew into the room. He landed on his perch and turned to his mistress.

"Trespassers!" he shouted. "Climbing up the side of the mountain! Awk!"

"Trespassers, huh?" Achroma asked. "Well, take the squad and get rid of them. I don't want any interruptions."

"Gotcha. Awk!"

And with a flap of the wing, the bird was off.


	4. Chapter 4

The boys continued climbing up the mountain, and it was turning out to be a very long climb.

"It's a long hard climb," Micky sang. "But we're gonna get there . . . ."

"I just 'ope we get there in one piece!" Davy shouted.

"Don't worry," Micky said. "I know a little about rock climbing. It's perfectly safe if you know what you're doing, and I know what I'm doing."

"I should 'ope so," Davy said. "Considering you're in the lead 'ere!"

"Yeah, man, if you fall, we all fall!" Franky shouted.

Micky didn't say anything to that. He just continued climbing, with the others following him. It wasn't easy, though. The other three were starting to tire out, but they couldn't afford to take any breaks. They had a job to do, so they continued on. All they had to do was remember not to look down. As they were climbing, a black swoosh went by. Franky was the only one of the boys to notice it, and then it swooped by again, nearly knocking him off the rope.

"Whoa!" he shouted.

"Hey, cool it down there, Franky," Micky said. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"But Micky . . . ." Franky started, but he was interrupted.

Another black swoosh went by. It happened to be Achroma's blackbird. Franky nervously grabbed onto Davy's belt, which nearly caused the British Monkee to lose his balance.

"Aaaahhhhh!" he shouted, trying to regain his composure. "Franky, what ah you trying to do?! Kill us all?! What's the mattah with you?!"

"That!" Franky yelled, pointing. The bird came back, and zipped passed. This time all four of our heroes, and held to the rope as tightly as they could.

"What was _that_?" Davy asked.

"I don't know, but it's coming back!" Franky shouted.

The swoosh came back, along with reinforcements. This time, the swoosh got the results it wanted. Davy and Franky lost both their grips and their footing, and were practically dangling. The added weight pulled Peter and Micky down a little, too.

"What's going on down there?" Micky asked.

"An emergency!" Davy shouted.

The swoosh zoomed by again, and careened into Peter's feet. He lost his footing, and slipped as well. Then the swoosh began going back and forth, trying to knock the boys off the mountain. It worked, so far. But as long as they all held onto the rope, they'd be all right. Pretty soon, the only one that wasn't dangling was Micky. And he could barely hang with the added weight!

"You guys have to get back on the mountain!" he shouted.

"How?" Peter asked. "These black streaks aren't making it easy!"

With everybody but Micky dangling in mid air, they figured he wouldn't be able to take the extra weight. Micky gnashed his teeth, groaned, and dug his fingers into the side of the mountain, trying his best to stay on the mountain. But it was no use. He lost his grip and fell.

"Oh nooooo!" he screamed. The birds then flew off.

The boys screamed as they fell. It looked like there was no way out of this one. But fate was with them. The middle of the rope caught a low hanging tree branch, allowing Micky and Peter to dangle on one side of it, and Davy and Franky on the other.

"Thank goodness for low 'anging tree branches!" Davy shouted.

"I know," Micky said. "But how are we gonna get out of this one?"

"Beats me," Franky said. "Anybody got any ideas?"

Micky looked down, and noticed he was close to a ledge. So he untied the rope, and jumped down.

"Everybody untie the rope and climb down here," he said.

Peter, Davy, and Franky climbed down the rope, and onto the ledge. Once they were all off, Micky took the rope, and wound it around his shoulder.

"Well, that was easy," he said.

"Yeah, but we've still got a long way to go before we actually get into the castle," Davy said. "Unless we find a secret passage, I'd say we're stuck."

"Good!" Franky shouted. "I need a break!"

"I think we all could use a break right about now," Peter said.

Davy and Micky had to agree on that one. As they were taking a break, they were thinking about ways to actually get up that mountain. Climbing it was out of the question. At any rate, Franky leaned against the wall, and it opened.

"Yipes!" he shouted, as he fell inside.

"You say something, Franky?" Peter asked. She didn't get a response. "Franky? Hey, Franky, where are you?!"

"In here!" Franky called. "I found a secret opening."

"Yeah?" Peter asked. "Hey fellas! Franky found an opening!"

The boys stood up, and ran for the opening. Franky crawled out, and smiled. Then he led the group inside.

"It's a pretty small hallway," he warned. "Watch your head."

As it turned out, the boys had to crawl on their hands and knees to get in. But they didn't care. They had a world to save. In the meantime, Achroma's bird flew back into her room and sat on his perch.

"Awk!" he squawked. "We got rid of the trespassers!"

"Excellent," Achroma said, then she turned to Mike. "Now there's no one left to save you!"

Achroma laughed and flipped her switch again. She was thoroughly enjoying torturing her captive.

Meanwhile, the boys were trying to figure out the tunnel. They didn't have any kind of light to help them out, so they continued to crawl on their hands and knees.

"Anybody got a flashlight?" Peter asked.

"We should've brought supplies with us before we went on this trip," Davy replied.

"At least nobody here's scared of the dark," Micky said.

"Speak for yourself!" Peter shouted.

"Don't worry, Uncle Peter," Franky said. "We'll be out of here in no time at all. Things will fall into place soon."

Franky couldn't have been more right! As he was crawling, he fell through a large hole, followed by the others.

"You and your big mouth, Franky!" Davy shouted.

"Who knows where we'll end up now!" Micky yelled.

KER-SPLASH!

The boys had landed in some kind of lake. There was a little more light in the area than in the tunnel. They were able to see their surroundings. They swam to the shore and climbed out of the lake.

"That was some ride," Micky said.

"I wouldn't mind doing it again, now that I know you can live through it," Peter replied.

Everybody else stared at him as if he were crazy. Then they groaned and began to walk away, shaking their heads.

"What?" Peter asked, confused. Nobody answered him. They just continued walking.


	5. Chapter 5

"We've got to find a way out of this cave and into the castle," Micky said.

"Yeah," Peter said. "All without waking the monster."

The boys continued walking along, and then they realized what Peter had said.

"Did you say monstah?" Davy asked.

"Yup," Peter said. "Right there, see? He's sleeping."

"He's right," Micky said, looking inside a cave. "It's a monster all right."

"A sludge monster," Franky said, looking into the cave as well. "That whole area inside that cave is swamp. Since it's asleep, we could try to sneak by it if we go at it carefully. And try not to wake it up. They tend to get really edgy."

The boys did their best to try to sneak by the sleeping sludge monster. But that was easier said than done. Peter tripped over a small rock and crash landed on the ground.

"Ow!" he shouted.

"Petaaaaaahhhh!" Davy groaned.

That did it. The sludge monster let out a growl and a hiss, and then slurped out of his cave.

"Now you guys did it!" Micky shouted.

"Run!" Davy yelled.

The boys ran in different directions, in hopes to confuse the sludge monster so much, that it would go back to his cave. No such luck. It began to chase Peter, until he had the blond Monkee cornered. Davy stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled.

"Leave 'im alone, you big bully!" Davy yelled.

"Pick on somebody your own size!" Franky called.

That worked. The sludge monster growled, hissed, and turned around, inching closer and closer to Davy and Franky.

"That didn't work out as I 'oped," Davy said.

"Let's get out of here!" Franky shouted.

The two of them ran, with the sludge monster right behind them. They managed to climb up to a stalactites, and hung onto it for dear life. But the sludge monster began to reach up with his slimy arm and tried to grab the them.

"How do we get out of this?" Franky asked.

"We don't!" Davy shouted.

Davy and Franky screamed, as the sludge monster got closer to them. Micky and Peter were hiding behind a rock, and got a good view of what was happening.

"We've got to do something," Peter said.

"But what?" Micky asked. "It'll just start chasing _us_ if we lure it away from Davy and Franky!"

Peter looked around, and then noticed a large boulder at the top of a small cliff. It was directly above the sludge monster.

"Maybe we can squash it flat with that boulder," he said. "We can climb up there easy!"

"Great idea," Micky said. "Come on!"

Peter and Micky climbed up to the boulder and began to push. The boulder wouldn't move.

"It's stuck!" Micky shouted.

"We've got to move it somehow!" Peter shouted. "Keep pushing!"

"I am!"

"Put your back into it, Micky!"

The two Monkees pushed as hard as they could, and finally, the boulder rolled off the cliff, landing on the sludge monster, squashing it flat. Slime flew all over the place. Davy heaved a sigh of relief, and he and Franky slid off the stalactites.

"Are you guys okay?" Peter asked, giving Franky a huge hug.

"Yeah, we're all right," Franky asked.

"Thanks a lot, fellas," Davy said. "I thought we were gonahs there for a minute!"

"No sweat, Davy," Micky said. "Come on. We've got to keep going!"

The other three nodded, and went to find a way out of the underground cavern. Lucky for them, there was an opening in the cave that led out, and up a staircase.

"I hope you know where you're going," Franky said.

"Relax," Micky said. "I'm in perfect control."

"Too bad you weren't in perfect control with that sludge monstah," Davy commented.

Micky glared at the British Monkee, and the boys continued to climb up the stairs. They ended up in another cavern, only it wasn't like the other one. No lakes, and no sludge monsters.

"This place gives me the creeps," Franky said.

"You and me both," Peter replied, grabbing his nephew's hand. It gave him a feeling of security.

"Well, Fearless Leadah?" Davy asked.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Micky shouted.

"Well, think a little fastah," Davy said.

"Let's just walk on until we find another stair case," Franky said.

The boys walked on. They also looked around their surroundings. The place was as creepy as anything. There was also a cave in the middle of the tunnel. Once the boys passed it, they could hear snoring coming from inside it. Davy let out a yelp and jumped on into Micky's arms.

"There's something in that cave!" he shouted.

"No kidding," Micky said, sarcastically, as he dropped Davy.

"Let's just get out of here without waking it up," Peter whispered.

"Yeah," Micky said. "Come on. Quietly."

The boys snuck passed the cave as quietly as they could. But that monster was the lightest sleeper in the world (despite his heavy snoring). Peter kicked a microscopic rock, and it rolled into the cave, tapping the monster (but barely). It woke up, and let out a fierce growl.

"Okay, who woke up the monster?!" Micky shouted.

"Who cares?" Franky asked. "Scatter!"

The boys split up. The monster crawled out of his cave and began to chase one of the groups. Micky and Peter ran into a small opening, as if to hide from it. But the monster was right on their tails. He tried to squeeze into the opening himself, but couldn't. So he tried to get the two Monkees out by reaching his claws in, trying to grab them. He also pressed his body against the wall, trying to make the opening bigger.

"What are we going to do?!" Peter shouted.

"I just hope Davy and Franky come up with an idea, or it's curtains for us!" Micky shouted.

Davy and Franky were just watching the entire scene, not really knowing what to do. Finally, Franky picked up a rock.

"Hey ugly! Take this!" he shouted, hurling the rock at the monster.

The rock bopped the monster in the rear. He turned around began to growl. He slunk towards Franky.

"Uh oh," he said.

Davy picked up another rock, and threw it at the monster as hard as he could. It clobbered him right between the eyes. The monster growled, and then started going toward him. Both he and Franky started taking rocks then, and threw them as hard as they could.

"Go pick on someone your own size!" Franky shouted.

"Get out of here, you brute!" Davy yelled.

The monster began to beat a retreat then. It ran off, never to return.

"Yipe, yipe, yipe, yipe, yipe!" it yipped as it went. The boys heaved sighs of relief.

"That was a close one," Davy said.

"Too close," Micky replied. "Man, I hope this is over with soon."

"You and everybody else," Peter said. "Now where do we go?"

"Follow me," Davy said. "I have a 'unch we're getting close to our final destination. Come on!"

Davy punched a piece of the wall, and a door opened up, leading to another staircase. The boys ran up, and found themselves in an empty hallway, with a high ceiling.

"Now where are we?" Franky asked.

"I dunno," Micky said. "But wherever we are, we've got a lot of head room!"

"We're at a dead end," Peter said.

"Didja _have_ to say dead?" Franky asked.

"What do we do now?" Micky asked.

Nobody had an answer to that. Not at least until Franky looked up at the ceiling, and noticed something was a little out of place.

"Hey, check that out," he said. "That center tile in the ceiling."

"What about it?" Micky asked.

"Look at the pattern," Franky said. "Most of the tiles have triangles pointing to the right. That one in the center has triangles pointing to the left."

"So?" Davy asked.

"So it could be a secret door!" Franky shouted.

"In the ceiling?" Micky asked.

"Why not?" Peter asked, shrugging. "Stranger things have happened."

"But how do we get up there?" Micky asked.

"We have to form a laddah," Davy said. "That's the only way we'll get up there."

Within minutes, Micky (being the tallest) was standing at the bottom of the "ladder." Peter was on his shoulders, Davy on Peter's, and Franky on Davy's.

"Hey! I found something!" Franky shouted, and she began to push on the tile. It moved easily, and he crawled through the opening, which led to a room, leading to various corridors.

"Yeah man!" he shouted. "Hand me the rope, you guys!"

Micky took the rope, and handed it to Peter, who handed it to Davy, who threw it up to Franky. Franky tied one end of the rope to a large column, and threw the other end down to the three Monkees. They climbed up one at a time, and looked around.

"Now where do we go?" Peter asked.

"That way," Davy said, pointing down one of the corridors.

"How do you know that's the right way to go?" Micky asked.

"A little bird's telling me," Davy said. The others looked toward the end of the hall and saw a door. through the cracks in the door the boys saw flashes of light, and heard what sounded like electricity buzzing.

The boys ran down the hallway, and slowly opened the door. There was Achroma, still sucking Mike's magic out of his system. Mike was in a semi-conscious state.

"We've got to stop 'er," Davy said.

"Yeah, but how?" Micky asked.

"Destroy the machine," Davy said. "But 'ow ah we going to do it without 'er noticing?"

"She's gonna notice anything we do to it," Micky said. "Maybe we could hit it with a sledgehammer."

"She'd definitely notice _that_ ," Davy said.

"Or maybe we could soak it and short it out," Peter said. "But we'd have to find a way to get some water, too."

"Why don't you just pull the plug?" Franky asked.

The three Monkees turned to look at him. Franky rolled his eyes, sighed, and then pulled a plug in the wall. The machine stopped suddenly.

"What happened now?" Achroma asked. "Good grief, if it isn't one thing, it's another!"

Achroma walked around the hallway to investigate. The group snuck inside the laboratory, and began unstrapping Mike from the table.

"Hi, Mike," Peter said.

"What took you so long?" Mike asked.

"We had to find the place first," Peter said.

"Now all we gotta do is figure out 'ow to put the machine in reverse," Davy said, "and get your magic back into your system."

"We'll handle the machine," Lilly said.

Before anyone could do anything, the machine suddenly whirred to life.

"Uh oh, she's comin' back!" Mike shouted. "Quick, make it look like I'm still strapped to this thing!"

Davy, Micky, Peter, and Franky did as Mike wanted, and then ran to find hiding places. Achroma groaned and began playing around with her machine again, but luckily, Micky had chosen a hiding place that was near the plug, and he went and unplugged it. Achroma let out a mix between a groan and a scream and practically ran over. She saw Micky holding the plug.

"What the heck?" she asked.

"How do you doooo?" Micky said, imitating the old radio show character, "The Mad Russian."

"Why you little . . . . ." Achroma started.

Micky ran off as fast as she could. Achroma was fuming. She gnashed her teeth and began chasing after the him. While Micky kept Achroma busy, Davy, Peter, and Franky got to work on the machine. They managed to put it in reverse and gave back Mike's magic. Once it was back in his system, the Texan Monkee stood up, and shook his head out.

"That could be qualified as a nightmare," he said. "But I've got bigger and better things to do."

"Like what?" Franky asked. Mike cracked his knuckles.

"Like this," he said.

Mike waved his arm in a circle, and a shot of magic blasted out of his fingers and came in direct contact with Achroma's machine. It smashed to pieces. Achroma noticed, screamed, and ran to it, trying to pick up the pieces.

"My machine! What have you done? You destroyed it!" she screamed.

"You just answered your own question," Mike said.

"No matter," Achroma said. "I can just put it back together again."

"Not likely."

Mike created a chain, and it wrapped itself around Achroma. Davy, Micky, Peter, and Franky grabbed her by the arms, and strapped her down to the table.

"I don't think you're gonna be tryin' anythin' for a long time, lady," Mike said.

"You think we should just leave 'er 'ere, Mike?" Davy asked.

"For now," Mike said. "Even if she does get loose, she won't be able to do anythin' about takin' the color away from the world."

Mike led the others outside, and to Achroma's saucer. He wiggled his fingers, and the saucer exploded in a shower of sparkles. It also began shooting rainbow colors all over the place, turning the barren wasteland into a bright, colorful meadow.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!" Achroma screamed. "No! Nooooo! The colors! The colors! I can't stand it!"

"Another one bites the dust," Mike said, brushing dust off his hand.

With that, Franky and the Monkees left the castle, and headed back to the Pad.

The End


End file.
